


Show Me Mercy

by robertsaaronsebastianskurt



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: AU, Angst, Humor, M/M, More tags to be added, Police Officer Robert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-20
Updated: 2015-12-20
Packaged: 2018-05-08 00:27:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5476220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robertsaaronsebastianskurt/pseuds/robertsaaronsebastianskurt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aaron is a known troublemaker around Emmerdale village alongside his two best friends, Ross and Adam. Robert is a newly qualified police officer and works in and around the village and he soon begins to get regular calls to the village to deal with various Livesy mishaps. Drama ensues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> hey all! man, I feel like I've been working on this forever and I've got so many different parts of it written because of NaNoWriMo. The original prompt was from robronobsession on tumblr so thank you so much even though you probably don't even remember sending it to me ;) also thanks to my best pal Jo, who doesn't ship robron sadly but nonetheless helped me create this fic and encouraged me to keep writing.  
> I'm so excited for people to read this as it'll be my first multichapter and it is very much my baby now (it gets better as it goes on I swear) Lets hope I can keep up with the updates ;) I didn't get involved in secret santa but this will is my gift to you all this christmas because who doesn't like a bit of police officer Rob eh?? 
> 
> Oh, last thing - I have no knowledge about crime or being a police officer, so anything included is purely fictional <33

Becoming a police officer had never been a lifelong dream of Robert’s. It wasn’t something he told his teachers in primary school or gushed about to his girlfriends.

If he was being completely honest with himself, it had been the furthest thing from his mind throughout his years as a rebellious twenty-something male. No, the idea to embark on this career path had hit him one day while he was in the midst of his ‘discovering who I am’ phase of life which had involved a lot of sex, alcohol and occasional drug use.

It was the perfect job for him; he’s physically and mentally fit, and let’s be honest, he has a talent for exerting his control over people. At first, that was what it had been about; the ability to one-up low-life criminals, but throughout his training, he’d come to learn that the job was less about having power over others and more about being able to help people, whether it be helping the fore-mentioned ‘criminals’ find their way back to the right path or protecting the victims from harm and helping them come to terms with what’d happened to them.

Robert fell utterly in love with this job, finding a new sense of purpose in the process, and feeling himself change for the better every day as he learnt something new on his training. With his new sense of self-worth, Robert had reached out and reconnected with his family; it had taken a while to gain their trust given their history, but Victoria and Diane had had come around quickly, witnessing that he was making an effort to be a changed guy with his new career. It had taken longer for Andy to accept him, but after a few heated arguments and hearty discussions, they decided to put the past behind them.

His training had taken place in a big centre in the Midlands with several hundred others hopefuls which was few hours away from Emmerdale village, so that had required them to come and visit him and stay in a few fancy hotels, all paid by Robert thanks to the money he had acquired over the past few years. Robert hadn’t had the time to come back to the village, despite the desperate pleas from Victoria so he hadn’t step foot there and frankly, he’d been too scared to. After a few more meetings, the Sugden’s expressed their immensely proud feelings of him, and their relationship was fully on the mend.

The training was hard, intense, and Robert thought of giving up on more than one occasion, but with the support of his family, he had persevered and in the end, it had all been worth it. The day Robert qualified as a student police officer was the proudest day of his life. There was an official ceremony to mark the occasion of Robert and his colleagues becoming official students ready for duty which involved a rather embarrassing parade through Birmingham City Centre (Vic had honest-to-god giggled all the way through it), an acceptance of his official uniform and papers and a meal to celebrate in a fancy hotel. 

“I’m so proud of you, you know.” Diane muttered into Robert’s ear, the sounds of laughter surrounding them. It was a few hours after the meal, and everyone was starting to feel more relaxed due to the alcohol flowing through their systems.

“Thanks, Diane.” Robert smiled, squeezing her arm gently.

“No, I mean it, pet. You’ve really made something of yourself. Your dad would say the same.”

Robert looked away, suddenly choked with emotion, and he realised that _this_ is what he’d been searching for all that time. He had wanted desperately to be part of the family, to be loved and accepted by them, and becoming a police officer had pushed him in the right direction and suddenly he regretted wasting so much time. He turned back to her and gave her a hug that was slightly awkward given the fact that they were still sat down.

“That means a lot.”

She gave him one more gentle smile before she patted the back of his hand and turned away to talk to Bernice. Robert contemplated his family for a while, soaking up the positive atmosphere, and wondering whether to tell them his news or leave it as a surprise. In the end, he couldn’t wait- he needed to see their reactions. He stood up abruptly, gaining the attention of everyone sat around the table.

“Rob, what’s up?” Victoria asked, slightly inebriated.

“Erm-” Robert started, uncharacteristically shy, “I just wanted to thank you for coming today, and supporting me through all of this. I couldn’t have done it without you.” He raised his glass of champagne and tipped it in their general direction, gripping onto it firmly in attempt to control his shaking.

He heard a muttered ‘aw’ coming from Victoria while Andy smiled at him encouragingly. “Well, I’ve got some n-news.” Robert hadn’t felt this nervous since he’d made the dreaded phone call to the Woolpack a few month previous. How would they take it? The relationships may have been repaired, but was it just temporary? Did they _really_ want him around? “A couple of months back, we were encouraged to apply for jobs when it was coming up to the end of training and well, I saw that there was an opening for a job… in the Hotten area, and that includes the village. To cut a long story short, I applied and I got it.” Robert rushed out the last part, huffing slightly and avoiding eye contact with all of them. When he finally looked up, he saw that they were all smiling.

“Does that mean-”

“Yes, I’m moving home.”

They all jumped up and clapped, fighting to hug him and share their happiness. Robert was overwhelmed with emotion once more, and he was so happy to realise that none of them seemed to be faking their joy; they all seemed genuinely pleased for him.

Robert turned to Vic, “I might have to stay with you for a bit while I find a place.  Is that okay?”

“Of course, I’d love to have my other big bro around!” Victoria answered, hugging him tightly again. “I’m so happy you’re coming home.”

“Yeah,” Robert whispered, “me too.”

He didn’t stop smiling for the rest of the night.


	2. A Change in the Air

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Small note; the title of this fic is inspired by a song by Muse called 'Mercy' go listen;)))
> 
> Enjoy<33

Robert adapted to life back in the village fairly easily; he settled into Victoria’s house, spending his last few days of freedom before starting his new job vegging out on the sofa with his sister watching trashy movies - romance, obviously, after Victoria had pouted for an _insane_ amount of time when Robert suggested sci-fi instead- and eating a mass amount of food.

But the transition, whilst quick, hadn’t been easy as he encountered people from his past that he’d wronged – there was one very public conflict between Robert and Katie, but Andy had acted as the peace maker, vowing that Robert had truly changed and he and Katie finally came to an agreement that they would keep out of each other’s way for the foreseeable. Most residents were indifferent to his return and those who were unsettled by it soon had their opinions changed with the Sugden’s fighting in his corner.

However, the evening before his first day on the job, Robert had a major freak-out that threatened to bring everything he’d carefully built up over the past few months crashing down; a knock in his confidence from out of nowhere.

“I can’t do this.” He stood admist a mess of pots and pans in the kitchen from where he’d been attempting to make his and Victoria’s tea. It took him looking at the flashing light of the microwave to remind him that he was starting his official police duties tomorrow and that brought about a world of questions like shit- what if he couldn’t do it? What if he forgot all of his training and got fired in the first week? What if everyone there hated him too? Cue a break-down in the middle of the exceptionally small cottage kitchen. “Shit, shit. Oh no.”

Victoria, upon hearing Robert’s troubled tone, ran into the kitchen, “What’s wrong, Robert?”

“Vic, I can’t do it.” He ran his fingers through his hair, eyes wide, “I can’t be a police officer. I’m not good enough.”

He really believed it; this new path wasn’t in his nature. Sex, drugs, the dangerous life – that’s what Robert Sugden was good at. He _started_ crime, rather than prevented it, and where he was heading was against everything he’d ever done before. It was a miracle he even got the chance to be a police officer, judging by his past, but it’s also crazy what money can get you. But the less said about that, the better. 

“Oh Rob.” Victoria gave him a sympathetic look before holding out her arms, waving them slightly to signal she wanted to hug him. He moved in and laid his head heavily on her shoulder with a loud huff. “Don’t be silly. You didn’t do all that training for nothing and I know you can do it. We all believe in you.”

Robert huffed again, prompting Victoria to pull back and hold him at arm’s length and look him in the eyes. “Listen to me, okay? You are going to be great at this. You’ll be fine.” At Robert’s uneasy look, she squeezed his arms, “Repeat after me, I am PC Sugden-“

“Actually, it’s student-” Victoria gave him a glare, so he repeated, “I am PC Sugden-“

“-and I am going to start my new job tomorrow and make my whole family proud.”

Well in the end, that was the reason he was doing it, wasn’t it? He wanted nothing more than to be part of a family unit that loved, supported and respected him. He wanted to protect his family, and deep down, he knew his fear of failure was irrational. He’d changed, and his past didn’t define him anymore; at least, he wouldn’t let it. Robert quickly decided that he was ultimately ready for a jump into the unknown and he’ll damn well be good at it, because there is nothing too big that he couldn’t overcome.

Robert pulled a face anyway, but repeated again what she had said, then laughed. “Thanks, Vic.”

“No problem, bro. Freak outs are perfectly normal. You should have seen me when I started at the Woolpack-“She exclaimed, “I totally freaked out because I thought Marlon hated me. Actually, I think he still does but that’s not the point. I must have paced around the backroom about twenty times before Diane finally got me to sit down and shut up.” She trailed off, before shrugging her shoulders, giggling.

“I wish I had been here on your first day.”

“Well, you’re here now, and that’s all that matters.”  That was Victoria; always speaking words of wisdom. She had the ability to make him feel ten times better in a matter of seconds, and that was one of the many reasons he loved her.

He smiled and gave her a fierce hug, suddenly overwhelmed with emotion before he quickly shook it off, “Speaking of your work, shouldn’t _you_ be making our tea, not me?”

She hit him on the shoulder, laughing. “No, if you wanna’ live here Rob, you’ve gotta’ pull your weight.”

He sighed, overdramatically. “Fine, but you owe me a pint.”

“It’s a deal.”

“And don’t complain when this tastes like shit.” He prodded at the contents of the pan with a shiny spatula, “Does this look okay to you?”

Robert’s sister leaned over his shoulder to get a better look at what he was doing, and promptly scrunched up her face in something that resembled disgust. He was trying to make omelettes (they were supposed to be simple, right?), but they never came out as fluffy and light as Victoria made them, no matter how hard he copied her instructions – instead, they turned into a yellow, gooey mess that looked extremely unappetising and something which you wouldn’t even feed to your dog.

“How can you still not make omelettes, Robert?” Victoria said, exasperated. Robert raised his hands in an innocent gesture, consequently flicking liquid from the spatula on the walls of the kitchen. Victoria shook her head and sighed, albeit fondly. She hip-bumped Robert away from the stove, stealing the utensil out of his hand as she did so, “Go on, I’ll make these and I’ll be through in a sec.”

Robert felt guilty, but relieved as he quickly hurried into the front room, jumping onto the sofa and putting his feet up. He tried hard not to think of the following day, instead choosing to take his sisters advice and not dwell on it.

He and Vic ended up having another quiet night in, and not long after ten o’clock, Victoria had fallen asleep on the sofa watching re-runs of Gossip Girl (totally _not_ Robert’s idea) and Robert had to carry her sleepy form to bed before he retired to his own room down the hall, quickly falling into a deep sleep himself.

…

Robert stood outside the ‘cop-shop’ for a long time the following day, contemplating the fact that he felt nervous more often than not nowadays. It went completely against who he was- I mean, he was legendary in the gay bars for being able to bag any bloke he wanted within matter of five minutes. It was a bit more difficult in so-called ‘straight’ bars; women seemed to be a bit more resistant to his charm, but he still had a good go, it just took a little more effort.

He’d got up extra early in the morning, wanting to prepare himself for what would probably be a long day ahead. The uniform, hung up neatly on the back of the pine wardrobe in what was now his room, felt daunting and he’d avoided putting it on for as long as possible, instead brushing his teeth and fluffing his hair. Eventually though, he’d gone through the uniform, bit-by-bit, putting it on to make sure every part was secured and in the right place. After-all, in this job, appearances were everything, or so he’d learnt from forums on the internet.

Victoria had left him a card with a (poorly) drawn police officer, and a sickly sweet message wishing him good luck on his first day and it warmed Robert’s heart at the thought of all the support she’d given him since he’d got back in touch. He’d also received messages from Diane and Andy wishing him good luck, to which he’d replied with a smiley emoji for Andy and a heart emoji for Diane.

Eventually, Robert worked up the courage to walk inside the foyer of his new workplace, taking in the surroundings like a child would on their first day of school. He must have looked ridiculous, because the unfriendly and extremely bored looking receptionist coughed in his direction and raised his eyebrows expectantly. He looked as if he was thinking that this was the last place he would rather be on this bleak Monday morning, and honestly, Robert couldn’t blame him - What was the point in working at a police station if you didn’t get to participate in the action?

“Hi, I’m Sugden. I mean, Robert. Robert Sugden.” He laughed nervously, “Sorry. I’m starting my new job today.”

The receptionist, Barry, as it said on his badge located on his crisp white shirt, aimed a blank stare in his direction, “I’ll call someone to come get you. Robert, was it?” He had a heavy Mancunian accent that completely contradicted his face and didn’t particularly suit him. No wonder he’s miserable, Robert mused.

At Robert’s nod, Barry told him to take a seat and said someone would be with him in a minute. So Robert did just that; he sat on a shiny, plastic green chair in the waiting room, watching people come in and out of the station, none of them paying any attention to him. Eventually, he got bored of waiting to see if the next person through the door was here to see him, so he got up to pace the compact waiting area, full of notices about victim support, reporting and who to call, and posters about accidental death.

He strolled over to look at the rack of leaflets hanging limply on the wall, each conveying a concise and clear message on the front. He picked one up out of curiosity on ‘signs and symptoms of Domestic Violence’ and was leafing through it when he heard a cough behind him, followed by light, female voice that he easily recognised, even after many years, with a familiar distaste evident, “I heard you were back.”

Robert spun round, eyes wide and leaflet still open, clutched in both hands. He was stunned out of words for several moments, before he cleared his throat and said, rather sheepishly, “Donna. Hi. I, uh, didn’t know you were an officer of the law.”

She nodded curtly at him, and looked pointedly at the leaflet now crumpling under the weight of his left fist. He quickly shoved it back into the rack, not looking to see if it was in the right slot before he turned back, with a stiff spine and uneasy smile playing across his face.

“You not gonna’ give me a hug?” Robert made a gesture of opening his arms, but it came across as very rigid, and only got worse when Donna just raised her eyebrows, remaining silent, very obviously unimpressed by his stupid attempt at a breaking the ice.

“Come on.” She flicked her head in the direction of the coded door that many of the other officers had slipped through. She walked over to the desk where a bored Barry was now tapping away at the computer.

“Barry, I’ll see to him.” At the receptionist’s blank stare, Donna rolled her eyes like she was used to it.  _Huh_ , Robert thought, _glad it’s not just me_.

He observed as Donna keyed in the code for the door and then followed her through to a maze of corridors that led to a room that was a mixture between an office and a lounge. It had several, messy desks filled with paperwork that surrounded many ancient -by today’s standards - looking monitors and keyboards, and set at the back of the room was a circle of plump, comfy sofas set out in a rectangle with a coffee-table, heavily stained with old liquids, placed in the middle. Robert took a seat, feeling awkward at first before slouching back, hands in his pants pockets, “I could get used to this, if this is what we do all day.”

“Shut up.”  Donna walked straight to the old looking coffee machine that looked like it did nothing more than a standard black coffee, which he loved but only if it was quality stuff, which he had a feeling that this wasn’t. He was proved right when Donna handed him a brown plastic cup filled with dark liquid, that he knew immediately was more water than coffee, but he drank it to be polite.

“You look good.”

Donna came to sit opposite him, across the coffee table, a guarded expression on her face that turned quickly annoyed at Robert’s words, “Don’t start that, Robert.”

“Start what? I’m not doing anything, I was just saying.” He held his hands up, as if to show his innocence, followed by a ‘butter-wouldn’t-melt’ look plastered across his face, “Anyway, I heard you’ve got a daughter, congratulations.”

Robert had learned this from Andy when they’d had a discussion about all he’d missed in the time that he was gone. He had been the one to ask about Donna, purely out of curiosity rather than him looking for a chance to ‘hook-up’, as Andy had originally thought.

Donna looked at him sceptically, like she couldn’t tell if he was being genuine or not. After a few moments of sizing him up, she realised that the sound of his voice and the look on his face was sincere and her guarded expression lifted slightly, “Yeah, her names April. She’s a little munchkin but she’s gorgeous.”

“I hope I can meet her.” Robert smiled. Looking at Donna now, an older and much more mature women compared to the girl he once knew, he realised how far she’d come and what he’d missed out on by wasting his time in various bars and clubs wrapped around girls and guys he didn’t care to learn the names of.

“Yeah, me too. She’d give you what for.” They both laughed.

“Can I just ask, though? Marlon?” Robert pulled a face, but it displayed hints of teasing. “Didn’t really think he was your type?”

“Oh shut up, Rob.” With the nickname and the small smile that accompanied it, he knew he and Donna were (probably, if he didn’t screw up) going to be okay. It’d would probably take time, because let’s face it, Robert had been the biggest dick of them all when he was younger, but he was willing to put in the effort, and he hoped Donna could see that.

“So…” Robert didn’t really know where to go from there, “What are we waiting for?”

“The boss wants to introduce herself.”

“Oh.” That gave Robert an unsettled feeling in the pit of his stomach, and quickly made it all seem real in a way that it hadn’t before. He sensed when his new boss had walked in the door behind him, because Donna sat a little straighter, and smiled a little tighter before standing up. Robert followed suit, turning around to face an attractive woman in her mid-thirties dressed to the nines in a blazer and a smart blouse. Robert didn’t remember ever coming across someone who exuded so much authority and power – it made him feel quite intimidated, a feeling of which he wasn’t used to.

When she spoke, she had a silky smooth voice, “Hello. You must be Robert Sugden. I’m DCI Jenkins.”

He accepted the hand she held out for him in a firm grip, “Uh, hi. Yes, I’m Robert.”

Once they parted hands, the woman’s gaze shifted to Donna who smiled politely in return and moved closer to the pair.

“PC Windsor, I’m assigning you as student PC Sugden’s mentor. I expect you to report back on his progress each week, and demonstrate good practice, as I know you will.” Something told Robert that this conversation wasn’t the first they’d had about her new role, and something also told him that conversation hadn’t gone well – he guessed it was his new skills as a cop that’d had made him so damn observant.

“Yes, ma’am.” Donna nodded, but she didn’t look all that pleased. Robert tried not to take that to heart; he’d get her on side, eventually.

“Good luck out there today, Robert. I’m sure you’ll be just fine.” She smiled once more before waltzing off in the direction she came from. Robert felt like some of the tension drained out of the room following her departure from all of the other people who were in the room.

Robert turned back to Donna, widening his eyes before whispering, “She’s kinda’ intense, eh?”

She just shrugged whilst picking up her coffee from the table and motioning for Robert to follow her. He struggled to keep up with her confident stride, and he ended up doing an awkward trot beside her, “So, how’d you get stuck being a mentor?”

“It’s part of my continued professional development. The next step, I suppose.” She shrugged it off, as if it wasn’t important, but Robert could see on her face that it was, and this was something she’d been hoping for a long time. Just a shame she got stuck with him as a mentee, he supposed, best not screw it up then.

They walked into the changing room, where Robert was shown his new locker and told that this was where he would keep his belongings whilst he was on duty. He pocketed the key in a spare pocket of his uniform as he watched Donna check the time on her phone. He was so busy staring, that he misheard the first time when Donna said, “I’m gonna let you take the lead today, Rob.”

It took her repeating it two more time before he took on board what she said and then he just gawped at her, resulting in a grin from his colleague who nudged him on the shoulder, “Let’s call it payback, eh?”

Robert groaned. He knew one day his past mistakes would come and bite him in the ass, and he didn’t think he was nowhere near ready, to face his mistakes _or_ to start the job. But it was now or never, he had to prove himself, not just to his team (especially now he has his ‘blast from the past’ working alongside him) but to his family also. A noise of static followed by the deep voice sounded on the end of Donna’s radio cut into Robert’s thoughts.

“You ready, newbie?” At Robert’s nod, Donna pulled on her radio and informed to control that they were on their way. “Then, let’s go.”

As luck would have it, Robert’s first day on patrol in was when he encountered Aaron Livesy, and little did he know that this job really would set his life on a different path, just not in the way he’d thought.

**…**

Robert observed from the passenger seat as Donna pulled the police car to a stop by the side of the village shop, whilst simultaneously muttering gibberish (to Robert’s fresh-police ears) into her radio that was attached on her uniform on her upper right side. They’d received a call five minutes earlier about some supposed shifty activity currently taking place in the village, and Donna had uttered to Robert that she thought something low-key like this would be a good place for him to start before she informed control that they would take the call – they were only a few minutes’ drive out of the village, cruising down a quite country road so Donna told him it wasn’t necessary to put the ‘blues and twos’ on, much to Robert’s disappointment.

Donna had spotted them easily enough, probably seen as she knew who she was looking for. Robert got the impression she’d been doing this job a long time, and if he made one wrong move that reflected badly on her, it’d be curtains for his career before it had even started.

“Well, what do we have here?” Robert asked, shooting Donna an amused look. He’d always wanted to say that; it sounded like something you’d hear on a 90’s cop drama that everyone said they hated, but secretly loved. She responded with an exasperated roll of her eyes, continuing to walk towards who they believed were the perpetrators.

Robert caught sight of the three men a few seconds later; each of them had a similar height and build, and they all had dark hair, one of which had his hair gelled to his head like a helmet, which Robert thought would probably look much better natural, and the other one was gelled less-so and the other had a mass of messy curls piled on the top of his head that complemented his ‘baby face’ in a way that wouldn’t work on anyone else. They were all laughing, obviously sharing some kind of private joke.

“Time to show me what you’re made of, Sugden.” Donna muttered, before slapping him lightly on the back and pushing him in the direction of the men.

He walked up and stood there for a few moments, unsure of how to get their attention. But it turns out that wasn’t necessary, as one of the boys, mid-chuckle, caught sight of him standing next to the group and muttered a small, “ey-up.” And nodded toward himself and Donna, before pulling the hood of his jacket over his head in an attempt to look ‘menacing’ -at least, that’s what Robert guessed.

Right, better start then, “I’m PC Sugden and this is PC Windsor,” He gestured to himself, and then to Donna who had come to stand beside him, “we got a call about some suspicious behaviour by three lads in the village from a concerned member of the public-” Robert raised his eyebrows, in what he hoped was his professional by policing standards.

He hoped no-one could tell, but he was sweating profusely (which now, made him wish he’d brought extra deodorant with him, despite putting tons of it on this morning) and desperately trying to remember his training that, in actually being in this situation, had flown right out of his head. He continued, “-that couldn’t be you lot, could it?”

“You’re new.” The man cocked his head to the side, ignoring the question completely, which stretched the hood of his jacket over his head, which came off as weirdly endearing. 

“Have a lot of run-ins with police officers, do you?” Robert asked. He felt a jolt of electricity shoot through his nervous system when the stranger looked in his direction, and he felt tingly in a way he hadn’t felt in – well, years. He quickly pushed it away, dismissing it as his hormones being on overdrive seen as he hadn’t got laid in ages. Truthfully, it had only been a week and a half, but for Robert, that was practically months. He’d find anything attractive at this point.

“You could say that.” He smirked at him before turning to the side to look at Donna, “Hi, PC Windsor.”

“Mr. Livesy.” She replied, simply.

Robert turned to his colleague, “You know him?”

“Yeah. He’s famous to the force, aren’t you?”

Aaron looked pleased with that. Over the years, Aaron had come to know several members of the Hotten Police force very well for one reason or another, much to his mum’s and Paddy’s disapproval. He also knew most of them were _extremely_ fed up with him by now, and several of them flat out _refused_ to have anything to do with him because, to quote them, “he’s a cocky, little bastard who will never learn and will always be a drain on our resources.” Maybe that’s why they were taking on new people, if he could allow himself to be big-headed enough to think the world revolved around him.

Because of this, he’d come to adopt the name of ‘troublemaker’ from several of Emmerdale’s finest. Not just him though, he was always accompanied by his ‘posse’, Adam and Ross, and between the three of them, they tended to liven up the village with their various mishaps, much to the disapproval of the elderly residents of the village.  

Adam was his best friend, and had been for a long time now. He’d stuck by him through thick and thin, and had taken the wrap alongside him more times than he could remember. Ross, however, was more like a ‘partner in crime’; they had hated each other with an intense passion when they first met, but their mutual loathing soon turned into respect the more their paths crossed and they discovered they had more in common than they first realised. Before long, the three of them were hanging out and causing trouble on a regular basis, and they were now known as ‘The Three Musketeers’.

Ross and Adam didn’t always see eye to eye due to their family ties and this often ended up with Aaron acting as the mediator between the two of them and it was honestly beginning to take its toll on him. If he wasn’t around, they would probably have killed one another by now.

“Do I not get a hello, Donna?” Ross asked, pouting. She stared back at him with a raised eyebrow as she detected the flirt in his voice. Aaron and Adam laughed as they’d come to be used to Ross’ not-so-subtle flirting with PC Windsor – it had almost become a game and each of them knew that there was no clear winner, as Donna always gave back as good as she got, regardless of her position in law enforcement.

Donna was the only person who regularly came into contact with the three of them, and they guessed it was because she was the only one that could handle them and not get sick of their constant mishaps. Either that or she really did have a thing for Ross, although Aaron had ruled that as ‘ _unlikely’_ as she’d rejected him on more occasions than one.

“Hello, Ross, have you changed your brand of hair gel?” Robert let out a breath of air at the reference to the man’s hair-gel, glad that he wasn’t the only one who noticed the over-usage. Donna’s voice had remained oddly professional, despite the jokey manner of conversation, and a blush rose high on her cheekbones which deepened when Ross slid his hand into hers and brought it to his mouth, pressing a chaste kiss to the back of her hand.

“Always a pleasure.” Ross smirked, winking at Donna as she rolled her eyes at him. Their hands lingered a little longer together before she pulled it away and stuffed it high into the pockets of her outer stab vest. “So, what can we do for you officers?”

Donna looked pointedly at Robert, reminding him that he was supposed to be taking the lead. When Robert opened and closed his mouth a few times, looking a lot like a gaping fish, Donna huffed in exasperation but gave him the benefit of the doubt, saving him from looking any more idiotic, “like my colleague said, we got a call, so we’d like you to tell us where you’ve been this morning.”

“I’d tell you what I was doing but I’m afraid it might make you blush. Again.”

“Mr Barton, just answer the question.”

Ross held up his hands, smirking slightly, “I just been having my brekkie in the café, not a crime is it?”

Donna must have figured that she wouldn’t get much more from him, so she turned her hard stare on the man with the mess of curls, “what about you, Adam?”

“Same as him.” Adam smiled politely, seemingly less smug than his two friends and almost looking sheepish at being suspected of bad behaviour. “You know my love for bacon sarnies.”

Ross scoffed, and Donna threw him a glare look before turning back to Adam, “You can’t have been in the café all morning, so what else have you been up to?”

At a guess, it seemed like Adam was the weakest link out of the three of them, and that’s why Donna was now targeting him with the questions. He was more likely to tell the truth.

“Sorry Donna, I don’t know what you’re expecting me to say.” He shrugged his shoulders. As Donna went to question him further, Robert tuned out and finally turned to look at the third man who he’d spoken to first, who was now just observing. Throughout the exchange and despite the fact that he was trying to listen intently to pick up as much intel as he could, Robert noticed that Aaron had been staring intently at him with a questioning look on his face.  

“Livesy, wasn’t it?”

Aaron looked shocked that he’d spoken to him for all of one second, before the confident expression resumed on his face, “You can call me Aaron.”

“Thanks.” He worked hard on putting the sarcasm in his voice, which was something that usually came natural to him, but he was having a tough time remembering how to act normal, by his own standards, around this person he found so… intriguing. He found himself equally annoyed and turned on by this man’s snarky, witty exterior, “So, where were _you_ this morning, Aaron?”

The name just rolled off his tongue with extra emphasis without him even thinking about it, and it earned him a seemingly impressed quirked eyebrow, but no words in answer his question.

Robert gave him a hard stare, so much so that Aaron rolled his eyes and said, “Unclench, PC Sugden, I’ve been making nice with old biddies’ in the park.”

Robert let out a small laugh before he realised that it wasn’t professional to be so amused by a suspected criminal, “You give a lot of backchat for a small village troublemaker.”

Aaron chuckled, amused in a way he hadn’t been in a while, “I’ve been called worst, mate.”

“I bet you have.” Robert couldn’t help it, he let the flirt seep into his voice before he could fully comprehend what he was doing; it often happened when he was conversing with a man he found attractive. Thankfully, Donna was still engaged in conversation with the other two, so Aaron was the only one who seemed to notice, and this had led to his eyes moving up and down the man’s impressive body, covered in a uniform he had often fantasized about men wearing. He had to admit, he liked what he saw- he was a gay man with eyes after all.

PC Sugden was clad head-to-toe in the generic police uniform, with black cargo pants with several pockets that hugged and therefore, accentuated his arse in the most perfect way. The long sleeved black shirt, imprinted with the white block letters of ‘police’ on the right breast, hugged his muscular biceps, and strained every time he flexed his arms. Aaron had a fleeting thought that he wouldn’t mind seeing those in the flesh, without them being covered in a piece of cloth.

He was also wearing a generic, black stab vest zipped all the way to the top, fitted with all the necessary gadgets needed by a police officer; radio, pocket for handcuffs (and oh boy, was that hot?), etc. The sheer weight of it must have been overwhelming, and he found himself wanting to ask, but he didn’t because there wasn’t time and he also didn’t _want_ to look as if he cared about anything that concerned the man in front of him.

Aaron loved it when there was new people taking on the challenge of being a police officer; he loved to see how far he could push them before they snapped and took him in to the station, the thrill made adrenaline run through his body in the most delightful way when he tried to worm his way out of the most difficult situations unscathed. He liked to test to see how much he would get away with and something told him he wouldn’t get away with a lot with the new blonde policeman. No, he’d be a challenge, and Aaron _loved_ a challenge.

Robert seemed to notice the movement of Aaron’s eyes across his body, studying him, which caused him to shift uncomfortably and visibly turned back into a professional stance. Aaron laughed.

“Well, you gonna’ arrest us or not, fresh meat, because I’ve got places to be?”

Robert’s eyes widened at the new nickname but choose to ignore it. He chanced a look at Donna, who was now paying attention to him, conversation obviously finished and he realised it was up to him to make a decision on the fate of these boys. She looked impassive, as if this was an occurrence she was used to by now, so he quickly made a decision that didn’t involve asking where Aaron would be for the rest of the day, “Well, there doesn’t seem to be anything illegal going on here, so we’ll let you go.”

“That’s so generous. Thank you so much for wasting fifteen minutes of my time.” Aaron crossed his hands over his chest along with an exaggerated head bow.

Robert ignored him, and said “I’m sure I’ll see you again, lads.” He then nodded at all three of them but his eyes lingered on Aaron, almost as if he was waiting for another witty remark.

But Aaron just stared at him, eyebrows raised and contemplating, “I’m sure you will.” He smirked at Robert, “Bye-bye, PC Sugden.” 

He turned away without a backward glance, an air of cockiness eluding from him, leaving Robert slightly breathless and his thoughts in a jumbled mess. Donna huffed and began to walk back to the car as Robert watched the three boys walk away in the opposite direction, his eyes focused on one in particular, before muttering, “I think I’m gonna’ like this job.” to no-one in particular.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mistakes are my own (and there will probably be some even though I've read through it a billion times)

**Author's Note:**

> Come visit me at robertsaaronsebastianskurt.tumblr.com
> 
> Mistakes are my own and thanks for reading.


End file.
